The Rochesterian in Your Inbox:

These are boom times for Amtrak. The railroad released its Fiscal Year 2012 ridership numbers, showing a dramatic increase over the last decade. Amtrak carried 31.2 million passengers over the last year, up 3.5 percent from the previous year and up a whopping 49 percent from 2000.

The Albany-New York City route is far more successful, carrying more than a million passengers.

Also notable, the top 5 train stations in New York state did not include Rochester or Buffalo. Total on/offs:

New York, NY 9,493,414

Albany-Rensselaer, NY 769,413

Rhinecliff, NY 177,375

Hudson, NY 167,286

Syracuse, NY 152,957

Perhaps Western New Yorkers don’t embrace Amtrak because it’s so much faster to fly – or even drive – to New York City. That’s where high-speed rail could make a huge difference in our willingness to jump aboard. But is it worth the cost?

17 Responses to Buffalo, Rochester & Amtrak

With the cost of flying going up I’ve really embraced the train. I do wish we had faster service. And the Internet the have doesn’t allow video streaming which is ridiculous on so long a trip so DVDs make for more bulk in your luggage. I was a couple of minutes late once and train waited for me. Really nice.

HSR does not make sense cost or time wise. No HSR that I have seen is an express ROCH to NYC, therefore no matter how fast you go you have multiple stops which makes it no faster than driving. The Train goes via the right angle of the hypotenuse via Albany. IF there was talk to connect ROCH to Ithaca and then to NYC that would be worth looking into and would allow for an express train ROCH to NYC

I love riding the train because of the comfort, outlets for devices, and the fact that you can walk around. I used to ride it to Maine for the summer all the time. The main problem is that it is SOOOO unreliable timewise. I took a train last February to Chicago for a friend’s party, it took 12 hours overnight to get there (as expected), but about 19 to get back. Somehow we were delayed by rain and if there is a freight train seemingly within 20 miles of the train they have to wait for it to pass. They also give no indication over the PA or anything as to why it is delayed. Take the train if you have lots of time, but until they have a dedicated track just for Amtrak, it will be inconsistent.

Where are the high rises in the new concept model? Disappointed. The plans went from a new tallest building and several other high rises, to a high rise and several mid rises, to nothing but 2-5 story buildings in a DOWNTOWN AREA!!!

When I was commuting back to Rochester to work on the special mayoral election last year, I often took Amtrak in the morning, as there’s a 7AM train eastbound. But coming home I almost always had to take Greyhound 🙁 as the schedules just aren’t frequent enough.

And that’s the chicken-and-egg problem Upstate: infrequent (and yes, unreliable) schedules and absolutely horrible 70s era “Amshack” stations discourage passengers who could provide the numbers to justify better facilities and increased service. Note that Syracuse — just an hour by train from Rochester — does make the top-5 list. Syracuse has a relatively new, well-designed intermodal station that combines rail, intercity bus, and local transit connections under one roof. The station is also near the Carousel Mall and the State Fairgrounds — destinations in and of themselves. In fact, I wrote about taking the train to the fair here:http://www.buffalorising.com/2010/09/new-york-state-fairby-rail.html
and I wonder if trips to the State Fairground station are included in the Syracuse numbers (which would boost them).

Also to keep in mind looking at the “top 5” numbers: the Buffalo area actually has TWO stations — a suburban Amshack and a ridiculous little DT station. Although neither inspires anyone to say “let’s take the train,” I suspect that, added together, their passenger totals might put Buffalo on the list. Buffalo’s DT station also links to Toronto (via NF), a somewhat popular route.

Funded track improvements now underway Upstate, and planned/underway station improvements (Rochester, Niagara Falls) combined with gas prices remaining high will get folks to take another look at taking the train, which will prod along the on-again-off-again discussions of upgrading passenger rail facilities in the Buffalo area. All that, taken together, will help re-establish passenger rail as a viable option, once again, in the minds of much of the public. Which is a crucial step toward justifying the investments that would be needed for significantly higher service speeds Upstate (west of the Hudson).

Let’s be honest, Rachel. “High speed rail” is a complete farce. From the October 20th D&C “Amtrak hits 111 mph in midwest test. The 30 mph increase from the route’s current top speed is a morale booster for advocates of high speed rail in America…”

HSR is the biggest scam in American history. All this crowing about a 30 mile per hour speed increase. For crying out loud, that’s like attaching a moped to your car and bragging about it. This will make little or no difference in travel times.

Actually the NYS Thruway is the biggest scam in American history. Not only were tolls supposed to be removed after a certain date, but that big, wide and beautiful center median which would make a perfect passenger rail right of way, is legally prohibited from being turned into that. So not only do we pay for the Thruway (and Canal, a part of the Thruway Authority for some reason) via tolls still, we aren’t allowed to develop OUR roads as WE see fit.

Newcastle Central Station, or simply Newcastle or Central Station, is the mainline railway station in the city of Newcastle upon Tyne, England and is a principal stop on the East Coast Main Line. It opened in 1850 and is a Grade I listed building. The railway station is connected underground to the adjacent Central Station Metro station. Mainline services are operated by Cross Country south to Leeds, Sheffield, Derby, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Bristol, Cardiff, Plymouth and Reading.-

When I initially commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox and
now each time a comment is added I get several emails with the same
comment. Is there any way you can remove me from that service?
Cheers!